When I was in first grade I attended school in my community's former one room school house - which had not been updated! We had old style desks (your seat was attached to the front of the desk behind you), a pot bellied wood burning stove in the center of the room, and NO indoor plumbing. In those days the chalkboard was the only technology, I don't think there was a projector or even a mimeograph machine of any kind in that school. When we moved to a modern school I remember being fascinated by the opaque projector - a monster of a machine that could project books! Filmstrip and movie projectors were equally fascinating - even if the only movie I recall watching was Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land.
Years later, when I was in college, I got my first calculator-4functions! and when I could get a 5 function - for under $30 I was ecstatic. In college I took a class in programming Basic and Fortran V. Back then you spent hours keypunching program cards and waiting for the computer techs to run your program through the room size computer. Eventually the box of cards would come back to you with one card turned up - at the point where the program failed. The program was extremely simple (I think it may have been a simple sorting program) but I seem to recall the semester ending before my program ran successfully - the computer staff simply didn't have enough time to repeatedly run student programs and the necessary school programs. I've seen the evolution of the personal computer, from my sister's Compaq that stored data on a tape recorder, to our first TI, and then an Apple. Portable computers quickly shrank from devices hauled on a cart to 14 lb "laptops" to true laptops.
Recently we've seen massive changes in the use of technology in our schools. In my first year working in a computer lab students were typing their spelling words and playing math games. Now they are creating videos, recording themselves, practicing all their skills. Technology has moved off the teacher's desk and out of the labs and into every aspect of the classroom. Many students carry phones that have more computing power than any of my early computers - possibly more than all of them together. To me, educational technology is an adventure, it is constantly changing the way we learn, constantly opening new doors, new possibilities. As educators it is exciting, overwhelming and, a bit scary. No technology can replace teachers, but it can enhance what we do. Choosing which to adopt, learning them, and integrating them into our practice takes time and there is always the fear that what we've adopted or invested money in will be outdated in a year! So, this is the purpose behind this wiki. Here I can share some of the projects I've tried, some of the tools I've found useful-in the hopes they can help another teacher because, in this rapidly changing world, we need to help each other.
Years later, when I was in college, I got my first calculator-4functions! and when I could get a 5 function - for under $30 I was ecstatic. In college I took a class in programming Basic and Fortran V. Back then you spent hours keypunching program cards and waiting for the computer techs to run your program through the room size computer. Eventually the box of cards would come back to you with one card turned up - at the point where the program failed. The program was extremely simple (I think it may have been a simple sorting program) but I seem to recall the semester ending before my program ran successfully - the computer staff simply didn't have enough time to repeatedly run student programs and the necessary school programs.
I've seen the evolution of the personal computer, from my sister's Compaq that stored data on a tape recorder, to our first TI, and then an Apple. Portable computers quickly shrank from devices hauled on a cart to 14 lb "laptops" to true laptops.
Recently we've seen massive changes in the use of technology in our schools. In my first year working in a computer lab students were typing their spelling words and playing math games. Now they are creating videos, recording themselves, practicing all their skills. Technology has moved off the teacher's desk and out of the labs and into every aspect of the classroom. Many students carry phones that have more computing power than any of my early computers - possibly more than all of them together.
To me, educational technology is an adventure, it is constantly changing the way we learn, constantly opening new doors, new possibilities. As educators it is exciting, overwhelming and, a bit scary. No technology can replace teachers, but it can enhance what we do. Choosing which to adopt, learning them, and integrating them into our practice takes time and there is always the fear that what we've adopted or invested money in will be outdated in a year!
So, this is the purpose behind this wiki. Here I can share some of the projects I've tried, some of the tools I've found useful-in the hopes they can help another teacher because, in this rapidly changing world, we need to help each other.